Lola Rose Read online

  ‘But she’ll be late taking us to school.’

  ‘I’ll take us, like I used to. Auntie Barbara needs to sleep, she’s been up all night.’

  Kendall nodded and started eating his breakfast, George on his lap. George got smeared with butter and sprinkled with crumbs. Kendall had dreadful table manners, especially this morning.

  ‘Don’t suck your toast. It’s not an ice lolly.’

  ‘You said I had to eat quietly. Toast goes crunch crunch crunch if you bite it,’ said Kendall.

  I had to smile at him. At least I was going to be doing him a favour this morning.

  I wrote a note to Auntie Barbara telling her we’d gone to school. I sent our love to Mum. Then I let us out of the flat, shutting the door behind us very gradually so it didn’t bang.

  Kendall ran down the garden path and turned right.

  ‘No, this way,’ I said, grabbing his hand.

  ‘But school’s that way.’

  ‘I know. But we’re not going to school.’

  ‘Where are we going then? To the hospital to see Mum?’

  ‘No, we’re not allowed to now. Not till the fever’s gone.’

  ‘So where are we going?’

  ‘You wait and see.’

  I bought two children’s travel cards at the tube station. I was using Auntie Barbara’s money again but there was nothing else I could do.

  ‘We’re going up to town?’ said Kendall. ‘All on our own!’

  ‘Yes. It’s an adventure, OK?’

  ‘It won’t get scary, will it?’

  ‘Not for you.’

  He didn’t know what I was getting at. He didn’t twig until we were walking along the embankment.

  ‘This is the way to the aquarium!’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Oh, Lola Rose, are you taking me to see George?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘But you hate sharks.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You won’t go in.’

  ‘I will this time.’ Though I wasn’t so sure now. I stood still for a moment.

  ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘I feel a bit funny.’

  Kendall peered up at me. ‘You look funny. All whitey-green. Like you’re going to be sick.’

  ‘I do feel a bit sick.’

  ‘You’d better wait outside. I’ll go in all by myself. I’m not scared,’ Kendall bragged.

  I knew you wouldn’t dare!

  ‘I’m coming in too.’

  I stumbled into the reception area and paid, pretending we were with another family up ahead of us. It was very dark. There were watery sounds all around us, as if we’d dived straight into an ocean. There suddenly seemed no way out. I saw a door but it said STAFF ONLY, NO ENTRY – TRESPASSERS WILL BE FED TO THE SHARKS.

  ‘Come on, it’s downstairs,’ said Kendall, rushing ahead.

  ‘Wait for me!’ I cried, grabbing his hand.

  ‘Your hand’s all wet, Lola Rose. Let go.’

  ‘No. Please. Wait, Kendall!’

  ‘I want to see George!’

  He jerked his hand free and hurtled down the stairs to the next level. I ran after him, fish wriggling and squirming in tanks on either side of me. Then I saw the great tank looming, crowds gathered round.

  ‘George!’ Kendall cried, rushing to the glass.

  I cowered at the other side of the walkway, narrowing my eyes until I couldn’t see the dark shapes gliding through the water. I couldn’t breathe. It was as if I were in the water too, drowning.

  I wanted to walk up to the shark tank and spread myself fearlessly against the glass window, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t.

  I heard Kendall calling, ‘George! Here, George! Here, boy!’ as if he were calling his pet dog. Then I blinked and saw George swimming towards him, his mouth opening wide.

  ‘Kenny!’ I screamed.

  It looked like he was about to be swallowed whole. I ran towards him, trying to snatch him from those terrible jaws.

  ‘Stop it! Stop grabbing at me! I’m fine. I’m not a bit scared,’ Kendall said furiously, pushing me away.

  I was scared. There I was, against the glass, George darting past, his cold, alien eyes acknowledging me.

  ‘It’s me. I’m here. Lola Rose,’ I whispered. ‘I can do it. I can outstare you. You can swim past again and again. You can open your awful mouth and bare all those teeth at me, but I’m not going to move. I’m going to stay here nose to nose with all of you for an entire hour. I’m going to make my mum better, you’ll see.’

  I counted the seconds, over and over and over. Kendall watched with me for a while but then he hunched up in a corner, chin in his knees, just waving languidly every time George came into view. He was sometimes stepped on. The shark tank was the major attraction of the aquarium. People kept trying to elbow me out of the way but I stood fast. I wouldn’t even let little toddlers in front of me.

  I couldn’t understand why they weren’t all terrified. Some of them grinned at the sharks as if they were goldfish. A few of the adults were scared though, squealing and running away.

  I stuck it out as the fish swam round and round and round, never once colliding. The ghost-like stingrays followed each other as if they were doing a slow dance routine. The golden trevallies swam in shoals. The sharks swam independently, as if they were each all alone in the tank, the nurse shark, the zebra shark, the sand tiger shark and the brown sharks.

  I watched them, and every single time they swam past my heart thumped and sweat sprang out on my forehead. I felt sick, I needed the toilet, I couldn’t stop shaking – but I stayed there.

  I counted each second until I got to three thousand six hundred. Then I moved. I’d made a misty impression against the glass. It looked like a ghost Lola Rose had pushed her way right through the glass and was in the tank swimming with the sharks.

  ‘You’re obviously a real shark enthusiast,’ said an attendant in a bright yellow T-shirt.

  I smiled at him weakly, rubbing my forehead.

  ‘You should come one time when they’re being fed.’

  I imagined those jaws ripping, chewing, swallowing. I shuddered. ‘How do you feed them? You don’t get in the tank with them, do you?’

  ‘No. We feed the conger eels in the tank, but not the sharks.’

  ‘You’d end up as food yourself,’ I said.

  ‘No, not these babies. We do swim among them sometimes but not when the public’s around.’

  ‘You don’t!’ I didn’t know if he was kidding me or not.

  ‘Yes we do,’ he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something white and pointed. ‘Shark’s tooth!’ he said. Then he held out his hand. ‘Go on, you can have it, seeing as you’re so interested.’

  ‘Really?’ My hand closed round the tooth before he could change his mind.

  ‘They’re meant to bring you luck.’

  ‘Thank you so much,’ I whispered, clenching the tooth tightly in the palm of my hand.

  The attendant walked off with a nod and a wink.

  ‘What did that man give you?’ Kendall asked.

  ‘Oh, just a peppermint,’ I said quickly. I put my hand up and pretended to eat it. ‘You don’t like peppermint, do you?’

  ‘I like Kendal mint cake,’ said Kendall.

  ‘I do too,’ I said. ‘Come on, we’ll buy you an ice cream because you’ve been so good.’

  I kept the shark’s tooth hidden in my hand all the way home. I felt mean because I knew Kendall would be thrilled if he knew about it, but he’d want it for himself. I had to keep it safe until I could give it to Mum.

  I was sure it was a lucky talisman, able to work magic and make Mum better. I’d endured the hour-long torture of the shark tank. This was a sign that I had completed my task. I had shown the Voice of Doom.

  Mum was going to get better.

  Auntie Barbara was out when we got back, obviously at the hospital. I wished we’d stayed up in London. It was a long, long afternoon. Then Aun